EDITORIALDems must find their spine on IraqWe just passed the Iraq Wars five-year mark and exceeded 4,000 deaths of U.S. military personnel. Yet, there appears to be a weariness that has set in among the vast majority of Americans who now oppose the war. A Downtown antiwar rally two weekends ago couldnt even draw enough protesters to stretch the length of 14th St.

TALKING POINTWhat we lose if Bloombergs congestion plan losesBy Charles Komanoff
Its high noon for congestion pricing in New York City. If by next Monday the State Legislature hasnt enacted a fee to drive into Manhattans central business district, the city will forfeit a substantial federal mass-transit grant, and congestion pricing will probably be a dead issue for the remainder of Mayor Michael Bloombergs second and final term.

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Villager photo by Jefferson Siegel

Women work out warrior withinFollowing two attempted early-morning rapes in the Village on March 2  one outside Our Lady of Pompei Church on Bleecker St.  20 women participated in a free, two-hour, safety-awareness and self-defense class March 25 in the churchs basement. Above, instructor Susan Moesker, left, taught Grey Elam, Council Speaker Chris Quinns district liaison, how to fend off an attack. A suspect in the two attempted rapes was arrested but released due to lack of a DNA match. The police investigation continues.

Key Food murderer is caught amid calls to end the violenceBy Jefferson Siegel
Police in Miami arrested James Gonzalez, 42, the suspect in the Feb. 29 stabbing death of his former girlfriend at the Key Food supermarket on Avenue A at E. Fourth St., two days after he was featured in the March 29 television broadcast of Americas Most Wanted.

Punk concert supporters get hardcore about permitBy Lincoln Anderson
East Village activists will descend on City Halls steps on Thurs., April 3, at 3 p.m. to demand a permit to hold a weekend of hardcore punk concerts in Tompkins Square Park on Aug. 2-3 to mark the 20th anniversary of the park riots.

Hours of hospital hearing, but eight is not enoughBy Albert Amateau
The Landmarks Preservation Com-mission hearing on the St. Vincents/Rudin application for a new 21st-century hospital and residential project in the Greenwich Village Historic District ran eight hours on Mon., April 1  and isnt finished yet.

NEWSRelated plan strikes out; Pship steps up to plateBy Josh Rogers
Village residents and Pier 40 ball field users started flooding Chris McGinniss e-mail box with pumped congratulatory messages Thursday, hours after the Hudson River Park Trust said it was working with his community group and a former rival to keep the popular pier running without a proposed entertainment complex.

E. Village food fight pits N.Y.U. vs. groceryBy Albert Amateau
What New York University intended as a small East Village information meeting about its long-range development plans turned into an angry protest last Thursday about fears the university would not renew the lease of a Met Foodmarket on Second Ave.

Whips, cannolis, Pride Fest set to hit the streetsBy Jefferson Siegel
A leather street fair that whipped up a frenzy of protest last October was again recently up for consideration by Community Board 2. But, this time, the leather fest didnt come in for rough treatment.

Villager Arts & LifestylesOf cameras and commemorationBy Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
Art creates a portal for us to travel through time, and several current shows address this ability with starkly different designs and results.

Madrid 1937, in the Hemingway originalBy Jerry Tallmer
We are in Madrid, in the Hotel Florida in Madrid, under heavy bombardment by the Fascist shells that come screaming in and bursting in the street, killing many people.

Three cheers for CheerBy Michael Rymer
As a high school student in Durham, North Carolina, Kate Torgovnick hardly seemed destined to become a sports writer. She describes herself during that time as a rebel with bright blue streaks in her hair who skipped all the mandatory pep rallies and only showed up at a football game onceto drive the getaway car for a friend who streaked across the field.

Chef a big addition at One if by Land, Two if by SeaBy Frank Angelino
At One if by Land, Two if by Sea, the historic and romantic Village restaurant, hand holding across a candlelit table rivals fork holding. Heightening the slightly edgy charm of the place as a romantic hideaway is its link through unofficial lore as having once been the carriage house of Aaron Burr, Thomas Jeffersons vice president, best known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Candy boys & girlsBy Brian McCormick
Chelseas very own rite of spring happens every April at the Joyce Theater, when sexuality blossoms onstage in the form of Stephen Petronio Company. As life begins anew, lithe and sensuous bodies, always fashionably attired, take to the stage, their pulsing pelvises commanding as much attention as their quick lifts, pikes, high kicks, and slicing arabesque turns, arranged in all kinds of pairings and group entanglements.

Koch on FilmIrina Palm (+) This offbeat film covers a lewd subject but is never salacious. It opens in a Liverpool, England hospital room where a young boy, Olly (Corey Burke), lies dying of an unnamed disease. With him are his mother, Sarah (Siobhan Hewlett), his father, Tom (Kevin Bishop), and his grandmother, Maggie (Marianne Faithfull).Boarding Gate (-) I decided to see this film, directed by Olivier Assayas, after reading Manohla Dargiss interesting review in the New York Times and also because it was playing at one of my favorite theatersthe Cinema Village on East 12th Street off Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.